The biggest goal of the moderator is facilitating civil discussion. This is achieved in several ways:

limiting trolling. trolling can be anything from posting incendiary comments to just making one-line quips in a thread without contributing to the discussion at hand. Or rambling on at length about nothing, re posting the same thoughts without regard for actually having a conversation. Post deletion and temporary bannings are good for dealing with this.

removing offensive comments or hate speech. you want your community to be inclusive for all. Mod options: delete all offensive comments, drop a note to the offender and tell them to clean up their mouths. If they continue, ban them.

No flames or personal attacks. Also, no use of offensive language. posts are deleted and users are given a time out.

Be an example. Mods and admins should not be flouting rules just because they can. That goes for avatars, .sig files, posting etiquette, the works. Also, be fair in all our dealings with friend and foe alike.

If you are unsure about a thread or post, lock it until the situation has been reviewed by at least one other mod.

If a Mod feels a post needs editing for language or offencive/inflammatory text, if possible request the poster to edit the post him/herself. If it needs immediate action then add a note to the post explaining it has been edited by a Moderator and PM the poster with an explanation

If a thread is moved into a new topic use the "leave a ghost" option and let the ghost remain for a few days so people using it can find it.

In light of recent events, anyone winding up a member in such a way as to try to elicit or provoke a negative response, will be liable to a time out of one week, rising to one month for a repeat offense and finally account deletion. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope we can all work together, and make this Forum a happy and informative place to be.

one other comment I would like to make, we may also move some threads if we find there is a similar topic going on so instead of having the two treads existing in different places we will try to merge them best we can, so if you thread disappears it may not have been deleted but merely moved to add even more valuable input to a thread, this will usually be done on the basis of keeping the older thread in place and merging the newer into it. In order to make our jobs easier can we try to put meaningful titles on our threads, I know threads often take a different direction to the one intended but if we have a descriptive subject for it then the thread is more likely to stay on topic.

Could forum Mods refer back to the guidelines post at least once a week, as there are new bits added every now and then as an issues arises that may causes an addition. Soon enough we should have a full and comprehensive list to deal with any situation in a fair and professional way

Er, yeah I think I am one as well An important thing here: What moderators say as individuals is/should be very clearly identifiable as different from their actions as moderators. Maybe a comment saying "<mod>Carried out this action for this reason</mod>" i.e. "<mod>Moved to appropriate forum</mod>"; "<mod>Posts Deleted due to complaints</mod>" etc.

Brendan (Who is using the excuse of being in Outer Mongolia for inactivity)